National Policy Summit to take place in Kumasi
The Ministry of Information has moved this year’s edition of the National Policy Summit (NPS) scheduled to take place from July 23 to 24 to the Ashanti regional capital, Kumasi.
A Deputy Minister of Information, Mr Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, at the launch of the summit, which is the third, at the Information Ministry in Accra yesterday, said: “It is important to move the summit to some other regional capitals so that the people in the regions will also have a feel of the programme, while the government too benefits from the views of other stakeholders.”
The summit, he said, had been held in Accra since its introduction and that “we are happy to inform you that this year’s edition of the summit is about to start and we have decided not to situate all the summits in Accra”.
Kumasi edition
The Kumasi event, on the theme: “Assessing the growth and jobs agenda”, will give key sector ministries the platform to engage on how well their programmes have fared in the first half of the year.
Other parties, Mr Oppong Nkrumah said, would be allowed to use the platform to make an input into the implementation of the policies and programmes of the government for the second half of the year.
Objective of summit
The NPS is an initiative of the Ministry of Information which provides a platform for policy makers, businesses and civil society to engage and dialogue on how to work together to achieve the economic and development objectives of the country.
These include promoting social accountability in the public policy cycle, mainstreaming development communication in the public sector and improving transparency and public access to information.
The Ministry of Information, per its mandate, has to disseminate information on government policies and programmes and, therefore, the NPS was introduced to serve as a platform to gather feedback from the citizens for the review and refining of policies.
Mr Oppong Nkrumah said the quality of feedback gathered during the first two summits on the economy and on trade was enough proof that Ghanaians had become active citizens.
He was happy that corporate entities had decided to come on board and said it would help build a tripartite relationship for the country to meet its development goals.
The Deputy Information Minister called on others in the private sector to be part of the summit, pointing out that continued engagement with all stakeholders would help deepen the country’s democracy and also strengthen the work of the government in its quest to deliver to the people.
Headline sponsor
The Managing Director of the Universal Merchant Bank (UMB), Mr John Awuah, whose bank is the headline sponsor of the summit, for his part, said the event would serve as a forum where business people could engage and contribute to national policies through a healthy debate.
He urged others in the financial sector not to sit on the sidelines but take active interest in the delivery of national development.
“It is only when they are able to create growth that we, as bankers and market participants and practitioners, can also benefit from the growth,” he added.
Mr Awuah said the UMB was excited to be the headline sponsor of the summit, saying: “I am sure that given our involvement, we are going to have the best policy summit the country has witnessed.”